Mohammad Ghaleb Abu al-Qi’an, 34, the terrorist who murdered four Israelis on Tuesday was deemed a “ticking time bomb” by prosecutors in 2015 but was nevertheless granted a lenient four-year prison sentence.

Abu al-Qi’an, who was married and a father of four, was working as an elementary school teacher in the Bedouin town of Hura before he was indicted in 2015 for planning to join the Islamic State and attempting to recruit operatives for the terror group. He was part of a group of five other Bedouin Islamic state supporters who were caught teaching ISIS ideology in the classroom.

He also admitted while in custody that he organized secret Islamic State meetings in Israel and was planning on traveling to Syria to join ISIS fighters there.

Channel 12 News reported that during his trial, the prosecution stated that “criminals such as the defendants are a ticking time bomb.” It was also noted that “the impact on security is much worse when it’s caused by Israeli citizens.”

Despite the prosecution’s warnings, the judge sentenced Abu al-Qi’an to only a four-year prison sentence, claiming that the defendant “expressed remorse and said he will not repeat his behavior.”

Following the terrorist attack, the Bedouin community, including the terrorist’s extended family and the mayor of the terrorist’s hometown of Hura, sharply condemned the attack. The Abu al-Qi’an clan issued a statement: “This criminal act was a lone one that is representative of the perpetrator alone. We are a family that believes in co-existence and obedience of the law.”

Faiz Abu Sahiban, the mayor of the largest Bedouin city in Israel, Rahat, told Army Radio on Tuesday evening: “We condemn the murderous attack that claimed the lives of four innocent people. We, Arabs and Jews alike, must maintain neighborly relations. Everyone is horrified as if their mother or father were murdered in Be’er Sheva. How could a terrorist who belonged to ISIS not be monitored?”

Despite the condemnation from the Bedouin community, Israeli security forces suspect that Abu al-Qi’an’s brothers were aware of the terror attack their brother was planning and failed to stop it and may even have witnessed him leaving the house with a knife. The brothers were arrested and will be brought before a judge on Wednesday afternoon.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)